Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Private property signs line the driveway at Jerry Sandusky's house in this neighborhood outside State College.

Victim One had to change schools. Joe Paterno was in hiding. Mike McQueary was getting death threats.

And Jerry Sandusky appeared jolly, smiling and greeting people in Penn State clothing as he shopped at stores and worked out at the gym.

“Neighbors are snapping at each other,” said Susan Strauss, who lives next door to the Sanduskys’ house on Grandview Road. “This is just really hard for them to handle. It’s a kind of betrayal, even though they didn’t betray us.”

Once a quiet street that even veteran pizza delivery drivers had trouble finding, Grandview has become crowded with unmarked news vehicles and rubber-neckers who just can’t resist taking a peek at the football legend’s modest two-story brick home, where several children have alleged they were molested.

An aerial map of the neighborhood went viral last week when people realized Sandusky’s backyard was adjacent to a playground and within walking distance from an elementary school.

Road-closure signs block the narrow roads. Trespassers are tearing up the grass. Photographers are circling, waiting for the right shot.

After Saturday’s football game against Nebraska and after Sandusky’s television interview last week, police showed up for protection.

“Far be it from me to get into Jerry Sandusky’s head,” said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. “I listened to that Bob Costas interview, and I don’t know what’s going on with him.”

Many people, Thompson said, disappear when they’re part of a big story.

“Because they’re savvy to the idea that they don’t want to encounter people asking questions,” he said.

And that’s seemingly the course Paterno, McQueary and many others have taken.

But in the Sandusky neighborhood, media have figured out that Sandusky is out and about, playing with his dog in his yard or driving to local stores.

Last week, gawkers who said they were with the media but couldn’t show identification knocked on Strauss’ door and asked her if her young son was “OK.”

Sandusky being free has caused his neighbors to feel like they are the ones locked up in a jail.

“You would think the chain of command of people going into hiding might be the reverse of what we’re seeing,” Thompson said. “The person who’s been accused is Jerry Sandusky. The ground zero of this story is Jerry Sandusky, so that does seem very strange.”

And in a quiet neighborhood, where most of the residents are elderly and there are seldom antics, the last 16 days have been difficult.

“He’s been out and about,” Strauss said. “I can’t get away from it. That’s the hardest part. We walk across that lawn to get to the [school] bus.”

Strauss thought she had a lot in common with her neighbors of 13 years.

They had mostly kept to themselves over the years, but they had bonded a little when, two years ago, Strauss finalized an adoption for three children from Ethiopia.

The Sanduskys adopted six children and fostered several more over the years.

In March, when news of the investigation broke, Strauss was among those who didn’t believe it. She wrote Sandusky a note of support and gave it to his wife. She was about to ask the couple to watch her three children, as a gesture of support, while she traveled to Ethiopia this winter to adopt three more.

Just thinking about that now makes her shudder.

“Then I read the presentment, and I cried,” she said. “I can’t get the image out of my head. There were just too many, and the way they were described ... it was too much to take in.”

Strauss, as many parents are, is using the tragedy as a life lesson for her kids. It opened up more of a conversation about boundaries, bad touches and what to do if an adult makes them feel uncomfortable.

“I don’t feel unsafe,” she said. “I’m nervous about the fact that this could go undetected for so long with such extreme behaviors.”

Someone has completely smashed a window at Jerry Sandusky's home, according to MyFOXPhilly.

A window on the front of Sandusky's house is broken and there is currently a sheet covering it.

Another disturbing detail: Sandusky's house is located next to an elementary school playground

Jerry Sandusky hauled from his home in handcuffs after NINTH alleged victim results in new sex abuse charges

Accusor, now 19, said he was abused at 12 in 2004 by Sandusky on Penn State's campus

Comes day after lawyer for another victim said all six identified accusers expected to testify

Jerry Sandusky was hauled away from his home in handcuffs this afternoon after prosecutors filed new charges when a ninth alleged victim come forward, according to reports.

A 19-year-old filed a complaint with state police alleging he was sexually abused by Sandusky after the former Penn State University coach after he was gave him liquor on campus in 2004, the accuser's lawyer said Tuesday.

Charles Schmidt said the client, whom he did not identify, went to his law firm about three weeks ago, after Sandusky was charged with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year period.

Newest complaint: A 19-year-old man stepped forward to accuse Jerry Sandusky (centre) of sexual abuse. He is the ninth to do so

CNN and NBC News reported agents with the Centre County District Attorney's Office went to Sandusky's house this afternoon and re-arrested him as a result of the new allegations.

'He suffered one incident of abuse, to use the legal term - involuntary deviate sexual intercourse - allegedly at the hands of Mr Sandusky,' Mr Schmidt said. 'That occurred on the Penn State campus, we believe in the area of the football facilities.'

Sandusky's lawyer, Joseph Amendola, said he was unfamiliar with the allegations Mr Schmidt was making.

The new claim came the day a lawyer for another young man who accused Sandusky of sexual abuse said he expects his client and at least five other accusers to testify at a preliminary hearing next week.

The lawyer said he has information that the six young men whose testimony before a grand jury contributed to a report detailing allegations against Sandusky will be called to testify next Tuesday.

Sandusky is charged with 40 counts of child sex abuse, and prosecutors allege he met his victims through a charity he founded in 1977 to help at-risk children, The Second Mile.

Sandusky, 67, denies being a paedophile and has vowed to fight the charges. In interviews with NBC and The New York Times, he has said he showered and horsed around with boys but never sexually abused them.

The existence of Mr Schmidt's client was first reported by WHP-TV in Harrisburg.

Mr Schmidt told the AP that his client was 12 years old, dealing with the death of his mother and suffering emotional issues at the time of the campus incident.

The lawyer said the two met through The Second Mile and his client claims Sandusky gave him liquor while in the office on campus. The grand jury report did not allege any instances of Sandusky giving boys alcohol.

Schmidt said his law firm is conducting its own investigation into the client's claims.

Accused: Sandusky faces 40 counts of sexually abusing minors

'We hope to have it wrapped up within another week. We believe him to be credible,' Mr Schmidt said.

'Everything that we've been able to unearth since has corroborated what he told us, but we'll continue to do our due diligence.'

The preliminary hearing, at which a judge would determine if prosecutors have enough evidence to take the case to trial, could last a day or more since the defence has the right to cross-examine the state's witnesses.

The state attorney general's office would not comment on the evidence authorities plan to offer to show probable cause the crimes occurred.

Mr Amendola said Tuesday that a police officer witness should not be able to testify in the place of the accusers, based on evidentiary rules that pertain to hearsay.

No familiarity: Sandusky's lawyer Joseph Amendola (left) said he was unfamiliar with the newest allegations

'Our position would be that these people have to testify,' Mr Amendola said.

'And one isn't sufficient, because you have eight separate incidents ... with eight separate alleged victims or accusers.'

Prosecutors listed eight victims in the grand jury report but didn't know the identities of two of them when they issued the report in early November.

The report said one of those two was a boy seen being sodomized by Sandusky in a Penn State football complex shower in 2002.

Mr Amendola has said he believes he knows the identity of the boy in the shower and that the person dined with Sandusky this past summer.Mr Amendola said he's looking forward to questioning the prosecution witnesses - including any accusers.

Horsing around: Sandusky denies being a paedophile. He has said he showered and horsed around with boys but never sexually abused them

'We will, for the very first time, have the opportunity to face Jerry's accusers and question them under oath about their allegations,' he said in a statement Monday. 'We look forward to this opportunity.'

Former sex crimes prosecutor Richard DeSipio said prosecutors may have to call the six known accusers for the judge to uphold the 40 counts.

Defence lawyers sometimes waive preliminary hearings if they are worried about publicity for their clients, but Mr DeSipio said he is not surprised Mr Amendola is demanding the hearing.

'This is their first and only opportunity before trial to actually see the witnesses ... to hear their tone and demeanour and to question them and see how they respond to questions and also to flush out details,' said DeSipio, who is now a criminal defence lawyer in Philadelphia.

Assistant football coach Mike McQueary, who has been identified as the witness to the 2002 shower encounter, could also be called to testify.

Mr McQueary's account wasn't immediately brought to the attention of authorities even though high-level people at Penn State apparently were told about an incident in the showers.

Full cooperation: Penn State president Rodney Erickson (far left) pledged that investigators will have unfettered access to the school

In the wake of the scandal, the university last month fired coach Joe Paterno and accepted President Graham Spanier's resignation. Paterno has said he wishes he had done more about allegations against Sandusky.

Athletic Director Tim Curley has been placed on administrative leave, and Vice President Gary Schultz, who was in charge of the university's police department, has stepped down. Schultz and Curley are charged with lying to the grand jury and failure to report to police.

They maintain their innocence.

Also Tuesday, Penn State President Rodney Erickson told sceptical faculty members not to worry that school trustees would 'whitewash' their own investigation.

Mr Erickson pledged to the University Faculty Senate that investigators will have unfettered access to and cooperation from the school.

He said the leadership of a committee checking into the allegations should lend confidence 'that there will be no whitewash ... no sweeping under the rug.'